March 29, 1602: The Concord, a small vessel called a bark, sails from Falmouth, England, to establish a colony in North America. On May 14, five years before the establishment of the permanent English colony at Jamestown, Virginia, it anchors in what is now York Harbor after cruising along Maine’s coast from Cape Elizabeth.
The ship, under Capt. Bartholomew Gosnold, sails the next day into what now is Provincetown Harbor. Gosnold names Cape Cod. The expedition later establishes a small post at what is now Cuttyhunk Island in Massachusetts, intending to leave some crewmen behind to found a colony; but the crewmen return with the ship to England when it becomes apparent that Bartholomew Gilbert, a co-captain of the ship, stocked only six weeks’ worth of provisions for the would-be colonists.
While its colonizing goal remains unfulfilled, the trip renews English interest in the region, especially because of the bounty of fish observed off the New England coast.
Joseph Owen is a retired copy desk chief of the Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal and board member of the Kennebec Historical Society. He can be contacted at: jowen@mainetoday.com.
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